Stargazers were treated to a rare occurrence in August, all five planets visible to the naked eye were in alignment in the evening sky. The next chance to catch this is in Oct. 2018.
This weekend I will see another rare alignment. It’s the first time in almost four years my whole family will be together at the same time. That’s my mother, father, sister, brother-inlaw, niece, nephew, my fiancé and myself.
The last time this phenomena was witnessed was during a brief 15 minute period outside my parent’s Calgary home as my brother in-law and nephew picked up my sister and niece en route from a Scout Jamboree to their Vancouver home. A photo was taken to prove this elusive occurrence took place.
It’s hard for all of us to get together these days. My fiancé and I usually head out to the coast for a short visit each summer. Occasionally, my sister makes it out with one of the kids. A couple times we’ve come close and had six of us together, but getting all seven together proves to be, sadly, difficult. I get that everyone is busy. The kids are in school. Someone is oftentimes travelling somewhere. My fiancé spent the better part of the last two years in Ottawa for graduate school.
So, this weekend we have plans to make the most of it as our stars align. My mom wants to bring the kids down to the Christmas markets in Okotoks and Millarville and she has big dinner plans. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the warm weather, and taking the kids out for an afternoon in the park and junk food (Shhhh, don’t tell my sister).
Fortunately, we won’t have to wait until October 2018 for everyone to be together once again. I’m getting married in June, so we’ll be back in the same orbit soon.
After that, it better not be another four years before our planets align again.
